XP Pro corrupted

I recently attempted to add another USB device using an available USB port that I had never used. Unknown to me there was a fault in that port. As soon as I plugged in the device, there was a pop and the PC shutoff immediately like a power failure. When I attempted to reboot, it went through the DOS portion of the boot up to the point of showing the manufacturers logo where it stops and never advances. I found my XP Pro cd but cannot find my key, which is really not the main concern, it’s somewhere in my office.

There are two hard drives. The smaller one is the C drive and contains the operating system and most program files. The larger one, F, has a lot of stuff that I would rather not lose although the absolutely essential files were backed up daily.

Can I avoid reformatting my hard drives or at least the F drive?